Premise: Just as being a good reader helps students to write (and perform well in other classes, such as history and even math), so does writing ABOUT WHAT ONE HAS READ help students to read better.
Justification: If a student has to summarize, e.g. “write about,” the events of the chapter he/she has just read, the contents of what they have just read are put into perspective, are put into chronological order, and are solidified in their minds. A further example of writing about what they read would be keeping a timeline of major events—or keeping an ongoing list of the characters the student meets while reading the novel and jotting down notes about said characters.
Proposal: In order to make “summarizing the chapters” more fun AND to cut down on plagiarism and copying other students, the use of glogster as a presentation tool is being implemented in my class. Glogster allows the creative side of the student to be expressed while still providing an opportunity to showcase a student’s knowledge. I never use the term “summarize your chapters” because that sounds like work. In fact, I don’t even suggest chapter summaries; I let the student choose how he/she will share his/her knowledge of this week’s reading assignment. Some students do choose to do chapter summaries, but as the ideas begin bouncing around, I am seeing more creative things (not to mention the individual desire to come up with ideas that other students haven’t come up with yet), such as instances of the “tongue-in-cheek” humor contained in To Kill a Mockingbird, character analyses, conflicts in the novel, the significance of the social setting and the break down of the social classes.
Effect: Students have to actually read the material in order to come up with something different, or unique. Spark notes won’t quite cut it, and because it’s fun, they actually wind up exploring the text as well as reading for understanding.
Paxton Consolidated Schools
connie.snodgrass@esu16.org
Online Posters
Motif: Write to Read
Premise: Just as being a good reader helps students to write (and perform well in other classes, such as history and even math), so does writing ABOUT WHAT ONE HAS READ help students to read better.
Justification: If a student has to summarize, e.g. “write about,” the events of the chapter he/she has just read, the contents of what they have just read are put into perspective, are put into chronological order, and are solidified in their minds. A further example of writing about what they read would be keeping a timeline of major events—or keeping an ongoing list of the characters the student meets while reading the novel and jotting down notes about said characters.
Proposal: In order to make “summarizing the chapters” more fun AND to cut down on plagiarism and copying other students, the use of glogster as a presentation tool is being implemented in my class. Glogster allows the creative side of the student to be expressed while still providing an opportunity to showcase a student’s knowledge. I never use the term “summarize your chapters” because that sounds like work. In fact, I don’t even suggest chapter summaries; I let the student choose how he/she will share his/her knowledge of this week’s reading assignment. Some students do choose to do chapter summaries, but as the ideas begin bouncing around, I am seeing more creative things (not to mention the individual desire to come up with ideas that other students haven’t come up with yet), such as instances of the “tongue-in-cheek” humor contained in To Kill a Mockingbird, character analyses, conflicts in the novel, the significance of the social setting and the break down of the social classes.
Effect: Students have to actually read the material in order to come up with something different, or unique. Spark notes won’t quite cut it, and because it’s fun, they actually wind up exploring the text as well as reading for understanding.
Click the link below for an example of a glog.
Connie's Glog
Student Example 1
Student Example 2
Student Example 3